Barcelona prepares to build first cricket ground

Venue to be built next to Olympic Stadium in 2022

A cricket ground will be built next to Barcelona's Olympic Stadium in 2022. Alamy

Football and Barcelona have a deep connection. But you don't associate cricket with the Spanish city. However, that is set to change with Barcelona planning to build a cricket ground next year.

According to the Associated Press, the Barcelona city hall asked its citizens last month to choose an initiative as part of a $35 million plan for new facilities and improvements to public spaces.

The plan to build a cricket pitch, at a cost of $1.4 million, was first in the voting among 184 proposals. The ground will be built next to Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium on a hill overlooking the city.

The campaign was led by a group of young women, mostly first-generation Spaniards, and a few Indian and Pakistani immigrants.

“It’s a dream come true to have won the vote after all the effort we put in,” cricketer Nadia Mustafa, an 18-year-old university student, told AP.

1). Cricket has been blessed with some truly beautiful venues, as this picture gallery will show. Picturesque stadiums are dotted across the globe, and we can add another name to the list. The Gwadar Cricket Stadium in Balochistan, Pakistan, has one of the most stunning backdrops in the world. Courtesy @falamb3

2) Queenstown, New Zealand. New Zealand could fill the top 10 of a list like this all on its own. The Queenstown Events Centre is a prosaic name for an extraordinary venue in the country’s south, which has the Remarkables mountain range as its backdrop.

3) Dharamshala, India. India will see New Zealand’s Remarkables, and raise them the Dhauladhar mountains, which are part of the Himalayas. Has there ever been a more spectacular setting for a major ICC tournament? The Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium hosted matches at the 2016 World T20.

4) Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu. From one side of the Himalayas to another. Nepal’s international cricket ground is built halfway up a hill that leads from the road from Kirtipur to Kathmandu at the bottom, to the campus of the country’s largest university at the top. When Sandeep Lamichhane and Co are in action, thousands throng the banks inside the grounds walls, while many others find canny vantage points outside.

5) Lord’s, London. OK, so it doesn’t back on to the Himalayas or the Remarkables. But, still, cricket grounds don’t come any more handsome. The Grade II* listed Pavilion must surely be the best-known structure in the sport. It is undergoing refurbishment at the Nursery End, so will have a slightly different look next time we see it.

6) Pukekura Park, New Plymouth, New Zealand. Unquestionably beautiful, and more than a little quirky, given the way the viewing areas are cut away from the hills to the sides of the ground. And just sneaks into this list on account of the one ODI it staged, between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe at the 1992 World Cup.

7) Pallekele, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka might be the closest rival to New Zealand in a list of the loveliest international venues. Pallekele International Stadium, 7kms from Muttiah Muralitharan’s home town of Kundesale, was built – by an Emirati businessman, incidentally – among the hills of the Kandy plateau.

8) Newlands, South Africa. It is not clear which is the most photographed ground in word cricket, but this one must be up there. There are few more striking sights at any venue than when the Tablecloth rolls in over the mountain behind.

9) Al Amerat, Oman. Oman’s first turf grounds staged ODI cricket for the first time in January, when UAE played there in Cricket World Cup League Two. The Oman Cricket Academy grounds are surrounded by the Western Al Hajar mountains. And they’re gorgeous.

10) Galle, Sri Lanka. A six-hit from the Indian Ocean, Galle International Stadium is a perennial favourite for almost everyone – apart from bowlers, perhaps. The view back towards the old fort is among the most celebrated on the international circuit.

11) Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai. International cricket does not make it here quite so often since what was then the Bombay Cricket Association decided to build the Wankhede Stadium half a mile up the road instead. But maybe only Lord’s reeks more of historic splendour than the Cricket Club of India’s ground.

12) National Cricket Stadium, Grenada. Refitted in time for the 2007 World Cup, the Spice Isle’s National Cricket Stadium is situated just along the coast from Grand Anse Beach. It is walled on three sides by lush green hills, and on the other is the Caribbean Sea.

13) Adelaide Oval, Australia. Many Australian grounds have supplanted former charm with unsympathetic new-build stands. The benches may have gone, but the Adelaide Oval still retains most of its allure.

14) Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi. Arguably the most eye-catching of international cricket’s modern structures. On the approach to the ground, it looks as though the Starship Enterprise has landed in the desert. The state-of-the-art grandstand contrasts with the pleasantly old-fashioned grass banks square of the wicket.

15) Quetta, Pakistan. Pakistan suffers in a list like this for the fact most of its international grounds are city centred, and generally have unspectacular views. Extend the criteria to domestic grounds, and Abbottabad would be a shoo-in. Quetta’s Bugti Stadium, which staged ODI cricket in 1996, is scenic – even when not dressed in snow.

16) Singapore Cricket Club. This just goes to show that city-centre grounds can be spectacular, provided the city centre is spectacular. The historic Padang hosted an ODI series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 1996.

17) Scarborough, England. Out of commission as an international venue since the late 1970s, and unlikely to return to the roster any time soon. No harm in remaining a charming little secret, though. North Marine Drive hosts county matches for Yorkshire.

18) Basin Reserve, Wellington. It is stationed on a roundabout, and has a public footpath running through it, which does not exactly sound too special. But the older and smaller of the two international venues in New Zealand’s capital is a classic.

19) Sylhet, Bangladesh. On one side of the ground, Sylhet International Stadium is accessible only via a tramp through jungle. Built just outside of town, in the tea-producing area of Bangladesh’s north-east, it has a different feel to many of the country’s other utilitarian stadiums. UAE played there in the 2014 World T20.

20) The Grange, Edinburgh. Lined by sandstone houses that are characteristic of Edinburgh, and with a distinctive pavilion, the Grange hosted matches at the 1999 World Cup – and more recently, Scotland’s win over England in 2018.

21) Daren Sammy National Stadium, St Lucia. Built to host matches at the 2007 World Cup, it was later renamed to honour the country’s greatest cricketer. Inland from the coast, but surrounded by verdant hills pockmarked with houses.

22) Sydney Cricket Ground. Much of its previous character has been chipped away with the new, practical stands, but its two most notable landmarks – the Ladies Pavilion and the adjacent Members Pavilion - remain.

23) Chester-le-Street, England. The Riverside Ground is in view of Lumley Castle. Which wins it extra points for style, given that was where Shane Watson and a number of other Australia players were spooked by the ghost of Lily of Lumley in 2005.

24) Nelson, New Zealand. The Saxton Oval, where the UAE played their first World Cup match in 19 years in 2005, was half the world away – literally and figuratively – from what the national team players were used to. From Sharjah, they had been transported to the green and pleasant land of the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island.

25) The Wanderers, Johannesburg. South Africa’s biggest cricket ground by capacity. It might lack the natural splendour of Newlands, but it still has plenty of architectural character.

26) Kensington Oval, Barbados. The atmosphere may be entirely different to what it once was, but it retains a unique feel. The Garfield Sobers Pavilion remains its most endearing feature.

“We spent weeks encouraging people to vote for our project so we could win. And in the end, we were able to get the first cricket field in Barcelona for us to play and train.”

Besides the pitch, the project includes changing and storage rooms, lights, and other cricket-specific amenities.

Barcelona has large Pakistani and Indian communities, and there are some 400 cricketers in Barcelona divided among 25 men’s and women’s teams. But for the most part, empty parking lots and fields have been used as playing areas.

Now, players will have their own ground.

“We are happy. Soon, in a year or a year and a half, we will have our own field here in Barcelona,” said team coach Shahbaz Shauqad. “We won’t have to think of getting cars and means of transportation to play elsewhere. We will have our field here.”

The International Cricket Council is pushing for the globalisation of cricket, especially into new territories. The governing body is hoping to have T20 cricket as an event at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Cricket last featured in the 1900 Olympics in Paris. The biggest stumbling block, so far, had been the Indian cricket board's reluctance to relinquish its autonomy and become answerable to the country's Olympic committee. The BCCI, however, changed its stance recently.